MARIETTA, Ga. — Marietta middle schoolers are achieving success through a mentoring program with the Chi Gamma Gamma Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated.
“This was born out of our African American advisory council. We noticed a trend with black male students coming from single parent households where only a mother was present and that’s when Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated stepped in,” said Marietta Middle School Principal Diona Brown.
Omega STEM, a program within the fraternity, meets students at Marietta Middle School twice a week.
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Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell got an inside look at one of the visits.
From the classroom to a hands on aviation engineering experience, students learned how to build airplanes, how to operate them and more.
“Omega STEM is focused on building capacity within the youth here in Cobb County,” said Aaron Love, an engineer and a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated.
“They mentor the students, they are a male presence in their lives now and that originated out of the African American Advisory Council,” said Marietta Middle School Principal Diona Brown.
The African American Advisory Council is a group of Black individuals who monitor challenges they notice in the community of Marietta. They work collectively to solve those problems.
Principal Brown said the mentoring program started out small and quickly began to grow.
“We have roughly 40 7th and 8th grade boys that participate,” said Brown.
“We are building again confidence and capabilities with the young men to aspire,” said Love.
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Students see success that is attainable and realize they can be an engineer like Love or make Black history like retired Captain Tony Holder, who is an award winner and hall of famer. Captain Holder is also a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated who mentors Marietta middle schoolers.
“One of my mentors was an original Tuskegee Airman and he always told me, ‘Tony, just like I’m helping you, I want you to reach back to others,’” said Holder.
“What’s been I think truly unique and amazing is we started with 20 and the students have actually recruited and brought in other students to join in the group,” Principal Brown said.
She says she has noticed a new attitude in her students. They are more confident and encourage other students.
“Discipline referrals have gone down significantly for our Black male students,” she said.
“We’ve had some that have expressed interest in going into law enforcement as a result of some of the mentors. We’ve had some students that have expressed interest going into engineering. We’ve have others who are thinking about pursuing a career in aviation,” said Principal Brown.
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